Color barges its way into every piece of tech sooner or later. First it invaded TVs, then computers, then PDAs and phones — and now it finally kicked down the door of e-readers. So if you're done squinting at grayscale graphic novels, sad-looking book covers, dull PDFs and text highlights that are 50 shades of "meh," you've got options. Amazon, Boox, and Kobo are now offering color models, and I've rounded up what I think are the best color e-readers from the admittedly still-small lineup available today.
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Be forewarned: The nature of E Ink color display technology means you won't enjoy the vibrant, richly detailed colors you're accustomed to on your phone or tablet. Indeed, these screens may seem pretty drab in comparison. (There's one exception: The iPad Mini, which we felt deserved a spot here; see below.)
But as with other e-readers, you still get a super-lightweight design, amazing battery life (usually measured in weeks, not hours), excellent outdoor readability and that blissful distraction-free reading experience. And, hey, color is certainly nice , even if it's not perfect. (If you're not into it, we also have a roundup of the best e-readers overall .) So read on to discover my top color e-reader picks, and then continue for answers to some frequently asked questions.
The best color e-readers for 2026
Rick Broida/Yahoo
Weight:7.1 ounces | Screen size and resolution:7 inches, 300 PPI (150 PPI color) | Water resistance:IPX8 | Rated battery life:5 weeks | Ecosystem:Kobo | Storage:32GB | Supports audiobooks:Yes
Shots fired, Amazon. The Kobo Libra Colour brings not only a color screen to the e-reader wars but also physical page-turn buttons and an optional stylus. That means it challenges both the discontinued Kindle Oasis and the note-minded Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, respectively.
The Libra's design is actually quite similar to that of the Oasis. Available in black or a snazzy off-white, it's comfortable to hold in just about any orientation, thanks in part to the thicker, slightly curved bezel along one side and the auto-rotating screen. Within that bezel are two roomy page-turn buttons, which are hard to live without once you start using them. (Why Amazon no longer offers buttons on any Kindle is a mystery.)
As with the Clara Colour (reviewed below), I like the fast, intuitive Kobo interface, which I think is more novice-friendly than Amazon's and just better designed overall.
Another Kobo plus is OverDrive integration: If there's an e-book available for checkout from your library, you can borrow it directly. Compare that with the Kindle, where you need to take the extra step of checking out the book using the Libby library app on your phone or PC. (Note: Although OverDrive now operates as Libby, Kobo still employs the former's nomenclature. According to a company rep, users will still be able to able to check out library books, name discrepancy notwithstanding.)
Interesting integration #2: Instapaper, a web-clipping service that allows web pages to be saved for later, offline, reading. This takes the place of Pocket, which shut down in mid-2025. I tested it; it works as advertised and therefore remains a nice perk for those who use it.
All that's missing is Hoopla, the library e-book and audiobook service I use almost as often as Libby. I was briefly hopeful the Libra's web browser — currently available in the Beta Features section — would give me access, but the Hoopla site simply wouldn't load properly. (For what it's worth, the Kindle's browser can't load it, either.)
But the Libra does integrate Dropbox and Google Drive, making it easy to access existing documents and sync new ones. That's especially valuable if you add the Kobo Stylus 2 ($70), a comfortable metal pen with an inline function button, an "eraser" up top and magnets that securely snap it to the side of the reader. It allows you to create all manner of written pages (to-do lists, sheet music, monthly planners, etc.).
And to my surprise, the Libra can do basic OCR (optical character recognition) as well: It will convert your handwritten notes to text. In my tests, it did a surprisingly good job of recognizing my chicken scratch. Just as welcome, you can write notes directly on book pages: Underline a passage, draw an illustration, scribble in the margins, you name it.
Granted, with the screen spanning just seven inches, you don't have a ton of room for all this writing. And while the stylus experience is fast and efficient overall, the tip lacks that pleasant pencil-on-paper resistance you get when writing on dedicated writing tablets like the Scribe.
That's a minor nit-pick, though. The reality is that the Libra Colour is a more capable device than the Kindle Colorsoft for a slightly lower price. I like the Libra Colour a lot , and if Kobo would add Hoopla support, I'd straight-up love it.
- Brighter, whiter display than most other e-readers
- Direct integration with Dropbox, Google Drive, Instapaper and OverDrive
- Optional stylus adds robust note-taking and annotating capabilities
- Fully waterproof
- Ad-free lockscreen shows charging and reading progress
- E-ink colors look fairly drab
- No support for Hoopla
- Kobo bookstore not quite as extensive as Amazon's
- Stylus an expensive add-on
Rick Broida/Yahoo
Weight:6.1 ounces | Screen size and resolution:6 inches, 300 PPI (150 PPI color) | Water resistance:IPX8 | Rated battery life:5 weeks | Ecosystem:Kobo | Storage:16GB | Supports audiobooks:Yes
As a longtime Kindle user, I didn't think I could be swayed by a non-Kindle e-reader. I was wrong — very, very wrong. The Kobo Clara Colour impressed me at every turn, to the point where if I didn't already have such a substantial Kindle library, I'd give serious consideration to switching.
Why? For starters, as with the Libra Colour, I like the interface better. It's streamlined and intuitive; I immediately felt comfortable using it. If a non-tech-savvy person asked me which e-reader to buy, I'd suggest a Kobo over a Kindle.
Then, of course, there's the color screen — offered here for $10 below the price of the grayscale Kindle Paperwhite. As noted earlier, this is nice for book browsing and text highlighting, though not as ideal for the likes of comics and magazines. Color content is slightly fuzzy at 150 PPI (half the resolution of grayscale content), and a screen this size is fairly cramped for that kind of thing anyway.
I will say the Clara is very fast, in terms of both menu navigation and page scrolling. You get the occasional screen-refresh flash, but it happens quickly enough that it's barely distracting.
What's more, with the front-light cranked to maximum, the screen actually appears brighter and whiter than the Kindle Paperwhite's; the latter seems gray and a little drab when viewed alongside it. There's also a natural-light slider here for manually adjusting the front-light color (making it "warmer" for more comfortable nighttime reading), but the Clara can also automatically adjust it for you based on the time of day.
Meanwhile, the Clara shares the Libra's wonderful OverDrive and Instapaper integrations. Oh, how I long for Hoopla support someday.
Indeed, I think the only real downside here is the Kobo bookstore, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, has fewer selections than Amazon's Kindle store. That's in part due to the latter's robust exclusives and indie-publishing arms. And because Kobo's store draws considerably less user traffic, there are fewer book ratings and reviews.
It's worth noting that you can get the Kobo Clara BW for $30 less. Save for its black-and-white screen, it's identical — and another excellent budget e-reader choice. But while the Clara Colour's color may not be dazzling, for just a few bucks more it's definitely nice to have.
- A color screen for close to half the price of Amazon's
- Fast, intuitive user interface
- Can automatically adjust lighting warmth based on time of day
- You can check out library books right on the device
- Integrates with Instapaper web-clipping tool
- Waterproof
- Non-flush screen
- Kobo bookstore not as robust as Amazon's
Rick Broida/Yahoo
Weight:7.6 ounces | Screen size and resolution:7 inches, 300 PPI (150 PPI color) | Water resistance:IPX8 | Rated battery life:8 weeks | Ecosystem:Kindle | Storage:16GB | Supports audiobooks:Yes
Amazon is working in reverse. The company's first-ever color Kindle, the Colorsoft Signature Edition, arrived late in 2024, followed in 2025 by a base-model Colorsoft. In other words, the "Pro" version preceded the standard one, which is opposite how these things usually go.
No matter. What matters is there are now three models in the Colorsoft e-reader lineup, the third being a Kids Edition . (Amazon now offers Colorsoft Scribe writing tablets as well ; more on that below.) But for anyone seeking a Kindle for the color age, this is the best choice — especially when it's on sale, which is often.
Indeed, while its $250 list price puts it only $30 below the Signature Edition, I've seen it dip to $200 several times in its fairly short existence. To me that seems a more reasonable price for what is effectively a color Kindle Paperwhite.
Read all about it in my full Kindle Colorsoft review .
- Frequently discounted
- As thin and light as the Kindle Paperwhite
- Impressive battery life
- Colors are muted -- and don't really add much to the experience
- No page-turn buttons
- Lots of screen-flashing when zooming or scrolling
Rick Broida/Yahoo
Weight:6.9 ounces | Screen size and resolution:7 inches, 300 PPI (150 PPI color) | Water resistance:"Water repellant" (No IP rating) | Rated battery life:Not specified | Ecosystem:Android | Storage:64GB | Supports audiobooks:Yes
Like a lot of readers, I rely heavily on Hoopla and Libby -- the two apps that let me check out e-books from my local library. Unfortunately, while many color e-readers support Libby (aka OverDrive), either directly or indirectly, none of them work with Hoopla. If you want to use that service, you need a device that can run the Hoopla app.
Enter the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II. Because it's effectively an Android e-reader, it can load just about any app: Libby, Hoopla, Kindle, Kobo and so on. That makes it nearly as versatile as a full-blown tablet -- it can even sync with cloud-storage services like Google Drive and OneDrive -- but you still get the benefits of an E Ink screen.
That's the good news. The bad news is the Go Color 7 is on the pricey side, and it's kind of a pain to use. If you're familiar with Android, it'll help, but certain aspects of the operating system can be confusing. For example, the main page -- Library -- is home to nine unlabeled icons, while Store contains only public-domain works; nothing mainstream, nothing available for purchase. You'd be forgiven wondering, "How do I get books on this thing?"
Right, apps -- but some of those can be problematic as well. When I tried opening a book in Hoopla, I was thwarted by an error message -- something about "permissions." A little sleuthing revealed I needed to venture into the Boox settings for that app and toggle something.
Meanwhile, in the Kindle app, I tried using the page-turn buttons, only to discover they adjusted the e-reader's volume levels instead. (Yes, the Go Color 7 can play audiobooks through its speaker.) Again, I had to search online for a solution; again it came down to tweaking a setting. But get this: In Kindle, you press the Down button to advance to the next page; in Hoopla, you press Up. Haven't solved that one yet.
Needless to say, there's a learning curve here, one with the potential to frustrate novice users. The flipside is this is arguably the most customizable e-reader you can get; there are tools and settings for just about everything.
I can't say I love the Go Color 7's screen, which seems a bit grainy and washed-out, at least compared with the Kindle Colorsoft's. E-book text just didn't have the same sharpness and contrast. However, you can write on it with Boox's optional stylus ($42), meaning this can double as a note-taking device. It's a relatively small workspace for writing, though, and you can't mark up e-books unless the apps support it. (Most do not.)
This e-reader doesn't have the best battery life; it usually needed recharging within 4-6 days, well below average. That's probably because of the Android OS, which performs a lot of background activity (updates, syncing, etc.). And it's probably why Boox doesn't list an estimated battery life for the device.
To me that's closer to being a dealbreaker than any of the other issues I mentioned; I really like that most e-readers can last for weeks on a charge. Even so, if you want a highly customizable color e-reader that works with any and all e-book platforms -- and has page-turn buttons, hallelujah -- the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II is definitely your best bet.
- Works with all e-book apps and ecosystems
- Physical page-turn buttons
- Also a writing tablet (with optional stylus)
- Zippy performance
- Generous storage included, and it's expandable
- Expensive
- Not novice-friendly
- Screen looks a little grainy
- Mediocre battery life
Rick Broida/Yahoo
Weight:14.1 ounces | Screen size and resolution:11 inches, 300 PPI (150 PPI color) | Water resistance:None | Rated battery life:8 weeks reading, 2 weeks writing | Ecosystem:Kindle | Storage:32GB | Supports audiobooks:Yes
Introduced late in 2025, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft provides a pleasant canvas on which to write, draw, annotate and more — all in color, without the confines of a grayscale palette. It's also a giant e-reader, great for anyone who wants larger fonts, a dual-column layout and actual notes written in the margins.
Because this is a roundup of e-readers and not writing tablets, I'll focus primarily on the Kindle aspects of the device — while noting that as such tablets go, it's a really good one. Read my more detailed Scribe Colorsoft review if you're interested in the stylus side of things.
It's also great for reading, though the same caveats apply here as with other color e-readers: Color doesn't add much to the experience. However, because the screen is so large, you can view graphic novels, PDFs and other documents with a lot less zooming and scrolling, which is part of what diminishes such content on smaller devices.
Similarly, if you have eyesight challenges and appreciate larger print, you can bump up the point size here while still fitting a decent amount of text onscreen. Personally, I like rotating the Kindle sideways for two-column reading, which is much more book-like, but I'm annoyed that you have to manually engage this view in the settings. The screen will auto-rotate 180 degrees, but not 90. Why?
Unfortunately, because this is half Scribe in addition to half Kindle, it carries a very hefty price tag: $630. That's the only real downside here for anyone in search of a "big Kindle." If writing is on the agenda as well, however, there's arguably no better device. (The similarly pricey Remarkable Paper Pro has the edge as a note-taking device , but it's not an e-reader as well.)
- The best "big Kindle" you can get
- Bright, colorful display with strong contrast
- Up to eight weeks of battery life (for reading)
- Feels like writing on paper
- Very expensive
- Cumbersome switching to two-column landscape view
Rick Broida/Yahoo
Weight:10.4 ounces | Screen size and resolution:8.3 inches, 326 ppi | Water resistance:None | Rated battery life:10 hours | Ecosystem:iOS | Storage:128GB | Supports audiobooks:Yes
It doesn't have an E Ink screen or a battery that last for weeks, but if you want the most versatile color e-reader you can get, it's the iPad Mini by a mile.
That's because it's a tablet first, obviously, able to do all the things any iPad can: movies, games, web browsing, content-creation. Add an Apple Pencil and you can write on it. But it's the apps that make it the ultimate e-reader: The Mini supports not only the likes of Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books and Barnes & Noble Nook, but also library stalwarts Libby and Hoopla. You can run any compatible audiobook apps, too.
The screen, of course, is the opposite of E Ink: super-bright, super-vibrant, razor-sharp. Unfortunately, it's not as easy on the eyes, and in fact its blue-light emissions could interfere with your sleep. (Apple's Night Shift setting can help with that, at least somewhat.)
The Mini weighs about 50% more than most e-readers, too. That, coupled with its non-rounded corners, makes it less comfortable to hold for long stretches. Battery life is the biggest shortcoming: The iPad Mini typically needs recharging after just 10 hours.
At least the user experience is beyond reproach: The screen responds instantly to taps, scrolling looks silky-smooth and apps load in a flash. Most e-readers feel sluggish in comparison. And there's almost zero learning curve here, even if you're more accustomed to Android than to iOS.
If the iPad Mini doesn't fit your budget -- and with a starting price of $500, it might not -- consider the Amazon Fire HD 8 . Priced at just $100, it offers many of the same benefits. (Here's my Fire HD 8 review if you want to learn more.)
- Dazzling color screen
- Works with countless e-book and audiobook apps and platforms
- Also a powerful tablet
- Much more expensive than most e-readers
- Battery life nowhere near as good as a traditional e-reader's
- Not water-resistant
- LCD screen may cause eye fatigue, loss of sleep
Other color e-readers we tested
Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition : Amazon's premium color Kindle adds double the storage (32GB), an auto-adjusting front light and wireless charging — all nice to have but hardly essential. I'd hoped that this model might earn its "Signature" label by adding page-turn buttons and perhaps some unique colorways. Alas, no. All the amenities are on the inside. As with the standard Colorsoft, wait for sale pricing before buying. And read my complete Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition review if you want to learn more.
The Paper Pro offers nine virtual writing tools, three line thicknesses and nine colors. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
Remarkable Paper Pro : Although it has a large, color e-ink screen, the Paper Pro isn't really an e-reader; it's a dedicated writing tablet. An excellent one, but if you want books as well, you'll be disappointed: It doesn't support Kindle or Hoopla or any other such apps. (It can, however, import PDFs and other text documents.) To learn more, read my Remarkable Paper Pro review .
FAQs
Do I really need color in an e-reader?
I struggle with this question myself. If you mostly read novels, you're mostly reading text, in which case a color screen is largely superfluous. Sure, it's nice to see color covers as you're browsing your library, and color is certainly welcome if you like to highlight text passages, but there's no real practical advantage.
Rather, it's more important for things like comic books, children's books, graphic novels, PDFs and the like. But given the limitations of E Ink technology, you'll have to endure not only some pretty drab hues, but also jerky scrolling and frequent screen-refresh flashes. For that kind of media, I'd strongly recommend a tablet instead of a color e-reader.
Wait, is E Ink a brand or a technology?
It's both! E Ink is a company that makes, well, e-ink screens, the latter referring to "electronic ink." Unlike an LCD, the kind of screen used in phones, tablets and TVs, e-ink doesn't require constant power. Whatever it's displaying stays visible until it changes (like, say, turning to the next book page).
Does a tablet make more sense overall?
Maybe. Tablets tend to weigh more, so they're not as comfortable to hold for long periods of time and not as easy to tote in your bag. They don't last for weeks on a charge, either; an iPad Mini might let you read for just 10 hours or so before needing to plug in.
A tablet screen is also a bit harder on the eyes, as they can show a lot of glare and be hard to view outdoors. What's more, their back-lights emit potentially harmful blue light, which can disrupt sleep. E-ink comes much closer to reproducing the matte, glare-free look of paper, with front-lights that are directed away from your eyes instead of toward them.
You can read books on any tablet, of course, but you'll have to contend with screen glare (especially outdoors) and relatively poor battery life.
(yahoo.com/tech)On the other hand, tablets are far more versatile — not just because they can run a panoply of apps, but also because they're not locked into a particular e-book ecosystem. On just about any tablet, you can access Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Libby, Hoopla and other sources.
So there are pros and cons. If you can, borrow different devices from friends or family members and see which one you like best for reading.
What's the best small e-reader for travel?
Honestly, it's the device you already have: Your phone. It runs all the apps (Kindle, Libby, Hoopla, etc.) and you'll always have it with you. That said, if you prefer a distraction-free reading experience and/or want an E Ink screen, check out the Boox Palma 2 Pro . It's basically a phone-size (read: pocket-friendly) version of the Boox Go Color 7.
What's the best color e-reader for comics?
The iPad Mini (or, better, a full-size iPad). That's because E Ink technology just doesn't work well for comics. Colors look washed-out, and the necessary scrolling and zooming make the reading experience really unpleasant. (Think: slow screen refreshes, lots of flashing.) Seriously, if you want to read comics on the go, use a tablet.
Update, June 10, 2026: We checked all prices and availability. Our top picks for best color e-readers have not changed.
